We were home at our parents' house for the weekend and we watched Elizabeth: The Golden Age. This fact is not entirely remarkable on its own -- what's remarkable is the realization we came to: Movies are way better if you can dim the lights. And we don't have any dimmers in our current apartment.
Watching movies with the lights on kills the movie magic, and watching them in complete darkness either a) puts us to sleep or b) makes it impossible to control the remote.
We took a gander at Lutron home lighting control today. It's a pretty cool site with a page that will tell you just how much energy you save as you dim a virtual light.
Here is a quick fact from the page: If every household in the U.S installed one Lutron dimmer we could reduce CO2 emissions equivalent to that from 370,000 cars.
With dimmable CFLs getting better and more available every day, there's no excuse. We're talking to our landlords this weekend.
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
I recently installed a Lutron system in my loft, including the main living areas, both bathrooms and the master bedroom on the mezzanine level. I love the effect effect that the dimmers give my home and saving energy is nice but Lutron is not a cheap solution. The dimmers run about $150 each and if you install the master control box, you'll probably need an experienced electrician. The price for doing an entire home (or apartment) can easily jump into the thousands!
However, it is possible to take the dimmers and switches with you when you move (you just replace the switches with the less expensive version).
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